No European Union country will next year exceed the budget deficit ceiling of 3 per cent of gross domestic product imposed by the Maastricht Treaty, an EU official was reported as saying today.
Mr Klaus Regling, head of the European Commission's economic and monetary affairs department, said the region's economy would recover in the first quarter of 2002.
"But without a better global economic environment we will not get a strong recovery," Mr Regling told German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Mr Regling said German growth was lagging that of other EU countries partly because its construction industry was contracting after a boom in the early 1990s triggered by unification.
He said it was not surprising that Germany's budget deficit was almost one percentage point above the government's original planning.
"The EU is not criticising that. But according to our forecasts no country will exceed the 3 per cent limit next year," Mr Regling said.
The EU Commission projects a German 2002 budget deficit of 2.7 per cent of GDP, up from an earlier forecast of 1.2 per cent.
Mr Regling said the EU Commission was opposed to economy-stimulating measures because history showed they achieved little and left countries with higher government debt.